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<\/div>\nI\u2019ve tasted some pretty unusual whiskies in my life but none quite as unique as Floki Sheep Dung-Smoked Reserve Icelandic Single Malt<\/a>, which is distilled from Icelandic barley kilned with droppings dug from the shelters where sheep spend the winter.<\/p>\n This dung was traditionally used as fuel for cooking and heating, so using it to make whisky wasn\u2019t such a stretch, says Maria Sigurbj\u00f6rnsd\u00f3ttir, the manager of Eimverk, the family-owned distillery which produces the malt. \u201cOur new make [unaged whisky] has a lot\u00a0of earthy flavors, like hay and grass\u00a0so the dung smoke kind of adds to that.\u201d It\u2019s also a more sustainable fuel source, she adds, than plundering slow-growing peat bogs.<\/p>\n I have to say I rather like Floki \u2013\u00a0it has a sweet farmyardyness and lanolin\/sheeps wool warmth to it that reminds me of the grassy fells in the north of England where I like to hike. It\u2019s a wonderful story. But, still, I thought it would be a hard sell.<\/p>\n Seems not, as I was amazed to learn this week, from the Whisky Exchange\u2019s buying director Dawn Davies, that it was one of the best-sellers at London\u2019s last Whisky Show. Right up there with rare bottlings from Glenfiddich, Octomore, and Chichibu.\u00a0<\/p>\n I shouldn\u2019t have been surprised \u2013\u00a0smoke is a note that exerts a powerful hold over the human brain. It speaks of comfort, connection, safety, something ancient (and, of course, it sometimes spells danger).<\/strong> And Eimverk is just one of a growing number of distilleries that are smoking their whiskies with things other than Scottish peat; that are looking to local fuels to imbue the spirits they make with a stronger sense of place.<\/p>\n The Danish grain-to-glass distillery Thy (pronounced \u2018Too\u2019) uses local beechwood to smoke its single malt Thy B\u00f8g<\/a>. The result is a rich sherry-cask whisky with nutty-sweet notes of smoky bacon, autumn apples and maple syrup.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a Dane, beechwood smoke feels deeply familiar,\u201d says co-owner \/ master distiller Jakob Stjernholm. \u201cThe moment you put your nose to a glass of our B\u00f8g whisky, you get this warm, gentle, and comforting smokiness \u2014 like sitting in front of a fireplace, or catching the scent of a distant campfire somewhere in the woods.\u201d<\/p>\n Thy grows all its own grain and is 100% organic \u2013 so sustainability is a big motive for using beechwood rather than peat. \u201c<\/strong>From the very beginning of our distillery in 2010, , to make whisky that came directly from our farm, our soil, and our local turf,\u201d says Stjernholm. \u201cAs farmers, we wanted to farm whisky. So when thinking about smoke for our malts, we wanted to explore what was truly local.\u201d<\/p>\n Nordic distilleries have also produced whiskies smoked with heather (Stauning, Denmark), juniper (Mackmyra, Sweden) and nettles (Fary Lochan, Finland).<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s Archie Rose distillery is perhaps the most experimental of all, using a whole host of different smokes in its malting and cask-seasoning processes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt always sat uneasy with me that we were dragging Scottish peated malt half way round the world,\u201d says master distiller Dave Withers. \u2018We wanted to represent what it is to be Australian \u2013 we\u2019ve got a long and illustrious history of distilling in Oz, it was legal in Oz before it was in the UK how would they have kilned their malt in the 1800s?\u201d<\/p>\n Inspired by the BBQ scene, they started kilning barley with native hard woods including Red Gum, or Aussie eucalyptus, (\u201csmoked meat\/bacon, herbaceous, quite floral\u201d), and \u2018stringy bark\u2019 aka mountain ash (\u201cfull, less floral, almost sticky\u201d). They\u2019ve also released a bold-tasting series of \u2018Smoked Cask\u2019 limited editions, aged in casks that have been smoked with local botanicals including cinnamon<\/a>, juniper<\/a>, which has a resinous, incense-y character, lavender<\/a> and wattleseed<\/a> (\u201cbacon, macadamia, fudge\u201d).<\/p>\n![\"barrel](\"https:\/\/elitetraveler.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/04\/barrel-smoke-1707x2560.jpg\")
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